Researchers on international climate change stage

Climate change report

A trio of UofSC researchers contributed to a groundbreaking climate change report
by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

After four years of long hours in the office, thousands of scientific sources, and
thousands of miles of travel, three professors in the University of South Carolina’s
geography department can finally take a breather.

In addition to teaching classes, Kirstin Dow, Edward Carr and Susan Cutter devoted themselves to contributing to a groundbreaking climate change report by the
U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their participation on the panel’s
Working Group II, which studied the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of climate
change, gave the department the highest percentage of representation of any university
department in the world.

“It was an amazing experience to work with a group of scientists who care about something
so deeply,” said Dow, a lead author on the report who worked with hundreds of researchers
from 70 countries.

Dow contributed to the report by co-authoring a chapter about the opportunities, constraints
and limits to adapting to climate change and the condensed Summary for Policy Makers.
She participated in almost 150 Web-based meetings and attended the formal U.N. governmental
approval session in Yokohama, Japan, at the end of March. Her current research at
the university focuses on understanding the needs of decision-makers in the Carolinas
and how they frame problems. She also seeks to provide them with scientific understanding
and information.

“It’s the interdisciplinary nature of what we’re doing that makes us a strong department,”
Dow says. “We try to integrate the understanding of climate science with natural science
in an effort to inform adaption and decision-making.”

Cutter says the department’s 20-year history of involvement in the line of work sets
it apart from other universities.

“We’re good on social science and good on the policy area,” Cutter says. “Our work
is focused on the human impacts of climate change and how societies adapt and respond
to change.”

Carr also played a vital role in the completion of the report, serving as a review
editor. He was responsible for sifting through more than 600 comments and then consulting
with the lead authors to make sure they appropriately addressed every comment as they
revised their chapter. Although the task was daunting, Carr’s extensive experience
studying in rural Africa prepared him for the rigorous review sessions.

"Fifteen years of experience studying the impact of climate variability and change
on the lives of rural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa brought some urgency to my work
as a review editor and the goal of producing the best report possible,” Carr says.

Professor Gregory Carbone and students are currently working on a new project, in which they will collaborate
on creating the first low-impact development manual in the U.S. to include climate
change.

“We’re passionate about sharing ideas about how to develop laws and institutions regarding
the potential impacts of climate change,” Dow says. “It’s exciting to address the
different needs.”